


Disowned

by TFALokiwriter



Series: For Harry [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Gen, Good Draco Malfoy, Hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26035915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TFALokiwriter/pseuds/TFALokiwriter
Summary: The steps to being disowned are easy to take after something so unexpected.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Narcissa Black Malfoy, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (Background)
Series: For Harry [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1778326
Kudos: 15





	Disowned

Upon hearing his name being called, Draco came down the stairs. It had been only a matter of weeks since he had returned from Hogwarts and the Dark Lord was surrounded by his most trusted members; Peter Pettigrew, Lucius, Snape, and Dolohov. They were only a small collection of the rapidly growing army that was gaining footing and more followers by the passing weeks while attending Hogwarts.

It was still all so strange to see the most noted members of the Dark Lord's army. It was as if they were fictional characters in a very ancient story rather than being a part of his general reality. Everything had lost its life, the innocence, the brightness, clouded by a thick fog of despair. If there were any Dementors around then they would be feeding off the hopelessness that Draco was experiencing. And what was far stranger was not seeing Bellatrix among the representation of the army.

In fact, being in their presence didn't feel right.

"Your arm, Draco." Voldemort said, his wand tipped up.

Draco looked toward his sleeve then toward his father then toward his mother, who only nodded, then shifted his attention toward the Dark Lord.

"Lord Voldemort," Draco said. "I . .. I . . . I am not ready for your mark. I don't feel quite up to deserving your magic. Harry's death---" 

Draco paused, acknowledging that the scar head was gone, it left a gap in his heart, and the future seemed far more bleaker and darker than how he had originally seen it. Without Harry, there wouldn't--no, wasn't a fair opponent against Voldemort. Neville galvanized Hogwarts but the young Malfoy had doubts that he could do in a battle of the wands against the older wizard. Voldemort squinted at the silent Malfoy.

"It is hurting more than anticipated." Voldemort finished.

"Yes, my lord." Draco said, restraining the tone of disgust, of hate, of utter fury for his hand in Harry's death.

No more of his equal, no more taunting, no more being upstaged, no more being followed by Harry to his own amusement, no more the-boy-who-lived wandering around investigating everything with his best friends. No more the boy that he could have befriended if he hadn't said the wrong words. Those few precious words built off superiority being raised by pure bloods.

And he had lost any future opportunities of starting a new friendship after Voldemort's fall made of apologies, laughter, perhaps some giggling, and hexing the other for good measure for old times sake before they parted ways. Voldemort took away the good out of the Wizarding world with his words, his hexes, and his henchmen. And now, Voldemort had taken away a foe who could have tempted into doing better than what Draco had done for decades.

"We can't have that, now can we, my lord?" Lucius asked.

"I cannot." The Dark Lord frowned at his own reply. "Do you like to be rid of the feelings clouding your judgement?"

"No." Draco said.

"My lord," Narcissa said as Draco's skin dripped with sweat, his figure tensed up, as he felt quite terrified of the man cloaked in darkness. "Why I am going through the same feelings."

"You hardly knew their boy." Voldemort acknowledged, quite intrigued.

"He is--" Narcissa corrected herself mid sentence. "Harry _was_ part Black by blood. Harry may not have been a part of my family, but he were."

"Then you will have until the day before you return to Hogwarts to be marked." Voldemort announced.

Certain relief washed over Draco but the tension lingered.

"Thank you, my lord." Lucius thanked.

"These feelings you may be feeling; don't attend tonight's meeting with that." Voldemort added. "I have a guest who may have some inkling of where the elder wand may be."

Voldemort departed the staircase followed by other members of his army and Draco relaxed as Narcissa approached him then paused by the railing. Narcissa placed a hand on his hand then gave it a squeeze. Draco was trembling as he looked up toward his mother. She approached him then caught him into a hug moments after the group had departed the lobby. Narcissa guided Draco out the front door then to the grounds of Malfoy Manor where they were away from the darkness that had became ingrained into their lives.

* * *

"Draco has shown a sign that he will not join the Death Eaters. He may be defecting to us before the term starts."

The comment was enough to draw silence from the crowd of the resistance. Their eyes met Snape's, as it became clear, squinting back at him what it meant.

"So that is what that old coot's secret was." Remus was very unhappy as the implications became far more clearer to Sirius. "That was his big secret during the war. It was you, all along, wasn't it?"

"It was." Snape replied. "I had hoped. . ." he closed his eyes. "That. . ."

"Lily." Sirius's comment broke the silence. "You became Dumbledore's spy for Lily." His gray eyes met Snape. "That's all you're fighting for?""

"Yes." Snape was ashamed. "I had wished that in the aftermath of the war that I would be outed. However, unfortunately, I was not."

"So, what does this mean?" Molly asked. "Is he on our side or on you-know-who's?"

"His heart is where Lily's heart is." Sirius said as he eyed the man at the table. "He had faith in her, hope in her, the strongest feelings that she would survive." he looked back, sorrowfully, at the tragedy that had unfolded then grimaced. "But, she didn't."

"Have you loved anyone else since she sacrificed herself?" Molly asked.

"There has only been Lily." Snape replied. "That feeling, to love after her, went out of my reach."

"It's not unheard of for Wizards to lose the feeling to feel love on moments like those." Moody replied. "It is incredibly rare but---"

"It happens." Remus interrupted as he looked toward Sirius, thinking back his concerns of whether or not there were still feeling in his old friend lover to reconnect.

They had been lucky. So very lucky that Sirius and Remus's hearts survived that night to continue experiencing good feelings after wiping all that muck, pain, and misery off with a towel. His eyes returned on to Snape. They had almost lost what was very precious; _love_. What they held dear was lost but the thing closets to the heart was the ability to love.

"I haven't felt anything good in the last sixteen years." Snape admitted.

"If we knew about your part in the war . . ." Spoke up Nymphadora. "we would have to tell the new prime minister." 

The members of the order frowned, at all once, contemplating what the werewolf was.

"Did you ever think about yourself before announcing this?" Nymphadora asked. "What your future could be?"

"I did." Snape replied. "There is no worse future than Lily not being here."

"He is already living in his version of Azkaban." Sirius said. "The real Azakaban wouldn't do what it is supposed to do to him."

"Peter isn't living Azkaban." Snape replied.

"Does he feel guilt for ratting them out?" Remus asked.

"He brags about it." Sirius looked like he were ready to blow with that reply so Remus clenched the side of his arm.

"Now, it looks like he is the only _one_ who has anything to brag about reducing our numbers." Sirius said, bitterly but amused then smiled with some satisfaction. "Bellatrix cannot gloat about her hand in Harry's death."

"The only. . . thing. . . that makes me feel that I can smile again is the thought of his suffering." Snape's fingers curled against his palm in rage as darkness radiated off him. All the rage, grief, and vengeance were apparent clear as day. "Wiping off that smirk off his face, that rat face, that dirty rotten--"

"Once we defeat Voldemort for good, that mark will be gone but our friend's prison won't ever end." his hands were cupped together in a prayer like form as his elbows were on the table. "Who likes to do nothing?"

Everyone, except Snape, raised their hands.

"I hate you, Sirius Black." Snape said.

Sirius smiled, looking back toward Snape.

"If you try to turn yourself in, you'll find no one being able to support your words about being a spy." Sirius replied. "And you'll look like a fool with a ruined reputation."

Snape's eyes flashed open as his head bobbed up. 

"That is the best punishment you can ever suggest for after the war that you have since you were sorted into Gryffindor." Snape said as the sound of the teapot echoed in the room. "Excuse me, the kettle is calling me."

Sirius's head face into his hands that combed through his stringy curly hair.

"Why did Merlin give me one brain cell?" Sirius asked.

And the order laughed.

* * *

July passed with ease and the pain that Draco hoped would go away didn't fade in the slightest even with the walks around the manor that he had taken away from the bleak, undeniably dark, an horrible things that were rampaging in the place that he once called home. He withdrew out of discussions that were once enjoyable with his father about what was to be done in the future. The discussions weren't as entertaining, delightful, or something to dream about as a fantasy. When his father forced him to be part of them with other members of the Death Eaters; Draco inwardly cringed.

Draco visited Diagon Alley on August the third with his mother instead of his father as he had many times before. This time, it were different. People were rushing, hurriedly, not staying in one place for long and everything seemed to be done quite urgently. His school supplies were fetched but the walk is slow and it is as if he were walking through mud that filled the air. The somber moods of the once golden trio were evident with much slower walks, their eyes stained red, wiping the tears off their sleeves.

The fall of Harry Potter still showed, plainly, painfully from the reduced group. They left before he could say a word to them, just a glance was all that were able to be exchanged, then the distinct feeling that they had given him the cold shoulder as they left _Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_ to rejoin the group that consisted of Ginny, Molly, and Arthur. Draco pitied the duo for the grief that still showed. He was able to keep it at bay but the clouds of darkness in his life still lingered. And it was worse than grief, it was dread, hopelessness, and darker than shoot with no way out of it. 

But there was a way out. That meant leaving behind the place that he had grown up in for eleven years until Hogwarts opened up for him, being disowned by his father, his name wiped out of the Malfoy family book, and being targeted possibly for his knowledge in which the Dark Lord lurked as his new headquarters. Draco watched them leave as his thoughts came together. There was a way out of the dark, there was some light at the end of the snake pit, there was some way that he could make things better for himself, and be somewhere so much _better_.

Once measurements were made and the acquiring for his new uniform were done, they departed the store with hands that were more fuller than before. Draco's shoulders felt lighter with his decision. Homeless was better than living in the den of a deadly anaconda that laid millions of highly unexpected eggs that would overwhelm the living on the surface. Draco's head was held up as he walked on through the alley.

Unexpected, there was a newspaper as he were leaving Diagon Alley that crashed into his face and his eyes were met first by the large block of text that his eyes were glued to--

**ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY SINCE THE BOY-WHO-LIVED FELL.**

Draco's arms were full of Hogwarts supplies as he felt a flash of anger.

"His name was Harry Potter." Draco sneered with a pause in his tracks, put his belongings in front of his feet, then proceeded to read it.

Draco continued reading the newspaper, his eyes caught attention on to Remus and Sirius, holding hands, looking toward the house that had been the site of a tragedy. Sirius's shoulders were visibly shaking as his head was lowered, weeping, for a close loss. He watched as Remus's hand withdrew from Sirius's hand then clasp him into a hug as they were both trembling with distant noise coming from both of them. He recalled how they had been the day after, angry, blood shot eyes, and keeping themselves so well together in a very admirable way keeping themselves from exploding in front of Hogwarts students. 

The newspaper went on to mention how the rest of the students were doing and what the plans were for the upcoming semester to deal with the still looming loss of the prized Gryffindor. Once Draco came across Dumbledore's, " _We carry on the fight against Voldemort and look up to Harry as our light._ ", he ripped the newspaper into pieces as Narcissa watched from afar once she had paused and turned in his direction. Harry was part of everything but not there to speak his mind and yet everyone acted as though he were still part of the war. His name was still being spoken as a rallying cry instead of being allowed to rest for all the fighting that he had done.

Draco looked up, heat in his eyes, looking toward Narcissa who slowly approached him then helped picked up his school belongings.

They don't speak on the way back to the manor or even after the return to the manor or tucking away the school supplies.

* * *

"Master Draco, why have you packed your belongings?"

Dobby's replacement, Missy Sphinx, was dumbfounded in that tone of voice as Draco was down to his clothing.

"If clothing is packed, how else will that be cleaned?"

Draco relaxed then turned toward the house elf.

"I'll trade you two cookies; one for this luggage, and the other, to be quiet." Draco replied.

Sphinx's eyes flashed open.

"Cookies?" Sphinx asked.

"Yes," Draco replied with a nod. "do you have any in particular that you like?"

"Why, erm, no one has offered to give me cookies." she played with the rims of her pillowcase then looked up toward Draco and shook her head. "Never. Ever." Her high pitch voice became graver in the next comment as she became somber. "Not in a hundred years."

"You'll get cookies every night." Draco said.

"Every night?" Sphinx's mouth fell open.

"Until I leave." Draco replied.

"Until you leave?" Sphinx repeated.

"Yes, Sphinx," Draco said, gently. "until I leave."

"Sphinx will miss Master Draco."

Draco smiled upon the female house elf.

"I think that I will miss seeing you." Draco said. "Missy Sphinx, you will only come to my room and knock on it, five times, at this particular time every night. You can do the cleaning for my clothing in that time." he held a hand up pausing her from replying to him. "Don't ask me how I get the cookies."

"Sphinx will do as Master Draco asks." Sphinx replied with a small nod.

"Missy Sphinx," Draco started. "You'll have to be very brave in this house."

"Miss Sphinx has lived in the slums! Missy Sphinx can stand the dark. Missy Sphinx isn't afraid of a docile snake."

"That snake isn't docile."

"Snake likes mice and being given chin rubs."

"The snake does?"

"Snake will go mad if she isn't given a chin rub. Snake will attack viciously. Snake likes chin rubs."

"Have you seen the snake attack people for not being given a chin rub? At least, the ones not upon Lord Voldemort's order."

"Yes."

"Missy Sphinx, thank you. This is a very dangerous task and I appreciate your help."

"Does Master Draco not intend to become a Death Eater like Master Lucius?" Sphinx tilted her head, curiously, but innocently.

Draco was quiet for a solid moment as he looked toward the doorway anticipating the sound of footsteps belonging to the Death Eaters once catching him in the near admission that he had no intention of getting the dark mark then shifted his attention toward Sphinx once none of that came. The hair all over his body was raised as he seated on the edge of his bed then rubbed his sweaty hands together.

"I do not." Draco said. "I need you to keep this secret close to your heart. Can you do that?"

Sphinx nodded.

"Miss Sphinx will conceal this escape." Sphinx promised.

And for the second time, in the darkness that lurked in the manor, Draco smiled.

Draco slept well that night.

* * *

"Mother, you have to get out of Lucius's social circle."

It was a small discussion that Draco started outside of the manor around fifteen feet away under a tree around a week after business at Diagon Alley.

"My dragon," Narcissa placed a hand on the side of his cheek then smiled. "If I had done this a long time ago then it wouldn't be too late to get out now."

Draco lowered his head.

"I am scared." Draco said.

Narcissa was on the brink of tears.

"So am I." Narcissa said. "What are you going to do?"

Draco lifted his head up, his demeanor full of resolve, with his chin up.

"Join the resistance."

"The Order of the Phoenix."

"Isn't that--what, what is Sirius Black to me, again?"

"Your first cousin." Narcissa clenched her son's hands. "I wish for you to tell him that I hold no will for murdering Bella."

"It will be done, mother." Draco replied.

Narcissa nodded then smiled as she stroked the side of his cheek.

"You have grown up so fine, Draco." Narcissa said, proudly. "You are the bravest Malfoy that I have ever known."

"No, mother." Draco said. "I got that courage from you. You are the bravest Malfoy that I have ever known. Braver than anyone else for loving a Death Eater."

A tinge of regret decorated her facial features.

"Our story isn't the best one," Narcissa said. "If I had only known what he would get tied up into. . . doesn't matter; you are the best thing to come out of our union."

It's a rare smile from Draco for his mother.

* * *

Monday the nineteenth comes to the doorstep of Malfoy manor. It's night, very late, and Draco is walking off the feeling of dread and heavy weight that is making him sink further and further into a pool of hopelessness even as he knows the way out; it's the general mood that the house has because of Voldemort. It's the general mood despite how bright the rooms are by the candles in the room that burn, lacking any scent, but the dark feeling that lingered in the form of dark clothing acting as a wall of oppression.

Draco felt that he could breathe outside in where there was only freedom. He leaned against the wooden bark with his arms folded. His future had never been more certain and clear than it had been in recent years since he took the mantle, the promise, the word of his father to become a great wizard and learn then use it to his undertaking against Hogwarts and the Wizarding world. Now, it was all going to be different.

The young boy heard the sound of footsteps then turned toward the source, raising his wand, then lowered it.

"Father," Draco said. "Forgive me for raising my wand against you. I thought you were Dolohov."

"Dolohov?"

"He gives me jump scares."

"Then he is a good Death Eater." Lucius aimed his wand at the area around Draco's feet then luggage appeared. "Why have you packed your belongings?"

Draco looked up, his face pale, eyes widened, frozen quite stiff as his heart raced against his chest.

"Draco, this is a very simple question." Lucius said as he watched his son tense.

Draco started to stutter.

"I-I-I-I am moving away." Draco confessed.

"How?" Lucius asked. "Legally, you are still a minor."

"I can't live in a house that is full of the dark lord. It's so. . . it's not the way it used to be."

"Voldemort's presence in this household is necessary but discomforting for all of us." Lucius said. "In time, home will be _home_ again. We have to bear his great presence in our luxurious place." 

The words had little comfort for Draco than it used to even as Lucius was delivering them in such a sincere way. It was the one matter that bridged them together as a father and son on a shared issue as the waters became murky and murkier with each passing year as a Malfoy. The matter had gone through the curtain itself becoming evaporated in the process.

"And The Dark Lord will have his own place of residence."

Draco looked toward his father, half-dead at the thought of staying, masking his feelings on the issue.

"Your son means to say that he does not want to be part of this great enterprise." The Dark Lord's voice came from behind Lucius.

"M-M-m-my-my Dark Lord!" Lucius exclaimed. "Your presence---"

"Lucius, please refrain from kissing my hand." Voldemort said. "I desire to hear what this child has to say."

"I do not want to be a Death Eater." Draco said.

Lucius turned back toward Draco.

"You are in not eager to be one, I see. Your decision is a respectable one. And should we see the Order of the Phoenix here by tomorrow, we can destroy the resistance in one fell swoop."

"I said, I do not _want_ be a Death Eater." Draco said. "You eat Death every day! Don't you, Lord Voldemort? Every single night!"

Voldemort smirked upon the reply of the young boy.

"And I enjoy it." Voldemort said. "We create Death, we create a finer equality between the mudbloods and the pure bloods with it." Draco stared, numb at first, at what he were hearing. "We consume what style of life that we create for ourselves and you are making a very distressing consumption for your future."

"I don't know any other way to be a consumer and be in a non-stop nightmare, Dark Lord."

"That is what a Death Eater does; they feast in a better tomorrow with the deaths a constant reminder in every manner of life that exists." Voldemort mused as he strolled around the younger Malfoy as he admired his finger nails. "And Harry Potter's death however tragic is pitiful."

Voldemort looked aside in regret at the unresolved battle held between them and how short it were.

"I had always looked forward to fighting against him in a fight between wands." His attention returned on to Draco coming to a pause in his tracks with his wand held in his lap. "Given that Harry Potter has died; it seems all my work can be done unimpeded. Harry was the main obstacle throwing wrenches into my rise so this makes everything easi---"

Draco screamed, loudly, then charged toward Lord Voldemort and threw a punch knocking the Dark Lord back. Dolohov and Snape appeared then yanked the young boy back just as he were punching him multiple times at the face. Draco was still screaming in a way that wasn't natural. Lucius was half stunned by the physical assault that was done on his grounds, by his own flesh and blood, so quickly that things couldn't be done to prevent. The boy was quite rabid, a mess, and a shadow of what a Malfoy was lashing his rage out at Voldemort.

"My Dark Lord---"

"He fights like a Muggle." Voldemort was aided up to his feet by Lucius. "It's a shame, if this boy were born a Muggle; Draco would be a worth while opponent aware of the Wizarding World fighting for it."

Draco screamed, louder, his tone so unnatural from a Wizarding individual releasing all the pent up emotions.

"Yes, my Dark Lord." Lucius replied, softer.

Voldemort picked up his wand then strolled away and Dolohov followed his lead except for Snape who blended into the background. Lucius turned in the direction of Draco with eyes seething in rage and hurt that measured less than the pain that Draco was in.

"This is about the loss of the Potter boy." Lucius said., sharply.

"He fell into the curtain and yanked it back to show what I really am becoming." Draco said.

"You're joining the Order of the Phoenix then." Lucius said.

"I didn't say that exactly." Draco frowned. "I haven't decided on that."

"Who is going to house you then?" Lucius asked.

"I can rent." Draco said, defiantly.

"Draco, this is very childish." Lucius said, condescendingly. "You can't avoid your destiny--"

"Harry avoided his destiny!" Draco shrieked. "Why can't _I_?"

"You must kill Dumbledore in this upcoming term." Lucius said. "The Dark Lord needs a Malfoy to do this."

"That's your prerogative." Draco pointed a finger at the older man. "Not mine!" he pointed back at himself. "And Malfoys don't become puppets, associate themselves to people who want to KILL the ones who bring in more unexpected Wizards, let their house be invaded, lose their house elves or use their house elves to get in the way of the Dark Lord's more worthwhile opponent!"

Draco let it all out in a single breath with rage against the Death Eaters and everything in between. The young boy's face became steaming red as he shook his fist in emphasis then lowered it. Lucius grew disgusted, insulted, as he frowned in reply.

"I haven't had a choice in all this for a really long time, father."

It was silent between them apart for the sounds of crickets going off in the greenery.

"Don't call me father." Lucius's voice became sharp with disgust layered in to it. "I don't have a son." Draco was surprised. "My son died a long time ago." his eyes motioned toward the collection around the sixteen year old. "Collect your things and get off the estate."

Draco looked toward Lucius, relieved, then collected his belongings -- using a levitation spell to hover the rest - - and walked away. Snape could not believe his eyes as he witnessed the young boy, normally a coward, become a man in his eyes with a spine. It was partially a reason why Snape found himself unable to move in response from the events that had transpired. So the potions master stood there quite befuddled of himself of the drastic change in the household and among the Death Eaters.

Draco's eyes were stung by tears as he left the land of what he had once seen as his home. He walked away with a trudge from the household then looked behind him and spotted Sphinx on the manor grounds with her ears lowered, ashamed. Draco saw only the tallest window of the manor was lit with a woman's silhouette. Draco turned his attention away resuming his walk away from the house. 

* * *

Draco saw civilization encroach upon him as he walked on under the night. He had to get himself far away from the house of Wiltshire, far as he possibly could, coming to a pause at the Wizarding bus stop. Draco realized, with the lack of a chirp, that his father had neglected to return his owl. _No matter, I will get her back at the shop in a week._ Suddenly, the bus arrived with a screeching halt. He went up the stairs into the vehicle then took out some currency from his pocket -- both of which packed as a precaution -- and slid it into the small box.

"Take me anywhere from Wiltshire."

"One stop to Basingstoke coming right up!"

Draco clutched on to his belongings as the vehicle whizzed through the terrain and came to a halt.

"Basingstoke!"

Draco departed the vehicle in a moment of being dizzy.

"Thank you." Draco replied.

* * *

Draco carefully made his way through the darkness of the night scanning the lit windows and the signs. He scanned for the sign indicating the small Wizarding town was nearby; low profile, remote, and quite bustling with little life featuring less than high profile characters. He strode his way into a building with the luggage in hand at the shop.

"We're closed--"

"Just taking a detour,"

"Oh!" the manager put the glass on the table then smiled, her aging features softened, back at Draco. "Malfoy!"

"Draco, please."

The manager's features became a frown.

"What brings you to this corner of England?" The manager came away from the counter then noticed his belongings were resting on the floor around him. "Oh. . . You poor thing, you were kicked out."

Draco nodded in return, somberly.

"I don't want my departure to be known." Draco asked. "Can we keep this low?"

The manager nodded.

"Right this way, put this top hat on," the manager handed Draco the top hat then he put it on. "Keeps you quite obscured." the manager stepped back admiring the teenager with a smile. "Look like you belong to two hundred years ago in that outfit."

"I do feel out of date." Draco said as he laughed with nothing weighing against his chest. "But, I feel the way that my family should be."

"This way, Mr--"

"Black, please." Draco insisted. "The only blood I share is with the Ancient and Noble House of Black. We have rebellion in our nature."

"You mean the house that has a ex-Death Eater?" The manager was surprised and startled at once.

"Why yes, I do----what do you mean by _ex_ -Death Eater?" Draco asked. "Didn't he die?"

"Well, if you like to change your name, you can take Witches Cove out back and go to the short cut to the Ministry of Names which is right this way." Draco followed the manager who had changed the subject of conversation with ease. "You'll be perfectly unseen getting there."

"That's really kind of you."

The manager handed Draco a brochure.

"Just follow these directions."

"I will."

"I can keep this information at bay for a week. Only a week."

"That's all I need to get on my feet." Draco came to a stop at a dead end. "So, is it like entering Diagon Alley?"

"No, sir, it requires a Patronus." the manager replied. "Most people don't come here because it's the most obscurer side of the Wizarding World and everything is done in the shadows."

"Oh, a Wizarding shadow town then?"

"Yes. It is. It's a place where Wizards go when they value their privacy."

"Okay, um," He raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum."

Nothing came out of his wand.

"Oh. . . there. . ." the manager patted on his shoulder. "there . . . it's just your first."

Draco lowered his wand.

"How do I make a Patronus?" Draco asked.

"Think of the happiest moment of your life." the manager said.

Draco lifted his wand up.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Still, nothing happened.

"Mr Black, may I hug you?" The manager asked.

Draco whimpered, looking down toward his wand, his hand shaking then shifted toward the manager.

"Yes."

The manager, a older woman with red hair that was becoming silver, hugged the boy. It was the warmest hug that he had experienced in many years. Draco smiled, his eyes becoming tearful, in the grip of the much taller woman. Draco relaxed in the grip and let himself experience how nice it were. He stood there for a long while with the manager until the hug was broken off by aforementioned person. She smiled, looking back at him, her hands on the side of his arms.

"Feel ready?"

Draco nodded.

". . . I really do."

"Try, again, Mr Black."

Draco smiled, then turned in the direction of the wall, raising his wand.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A white ferret appeared then climbed the wall spinning on to it playfully with squeaks and Draco smiled at it and laughed. The manager smiled in warmth at the playful creature then the walls retreated brick by brick until the opening of Witches Cove was revealed. Draco picked up the luggage that he could carry then cast the levitation spell on to the other pieces of his upcoming tenure at Hogwarts. Draco turned toward the manager.

"Thank you. And, what's your name?"

"Scorpusa Crane." Scorpusa replied.

"I won't forget you." Draco replied.

"And I won't forget you, Mr Black." she smiled back at him.

Draco grinned then turned away and walked on into Witches Cove. 

And everything was going to be quite better.

It was all clearing up.

And Draco was _free_.

**Author's Note:**

> used this as my aid of the calendar in 1996. http://luirig.altervista.org/calendar/calmese1.php?anno=1996&mese=8


End file.
